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Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

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Harry Marks
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Re: Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

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DWill wrote: Even while the more conservative churches insist officially on following the Bible, they move further toward serving practical needs and forming networks of caring, really de-stressing doctrine. They seem to retain a few politically charged issues, though, such as abortion and "religious freedom."
I go to my father-in-law's church now and then, and to my mother's now and then, and yes, I would say the evangelical churches are moving toward some of the community-building that is so central to current mainline Protestantism. The anger and moral condemnation around abortion seems to be more tightly bound to traditional male authority in the family than I would have realized without listening in now and then, but I am not sure if that's a good readout from the broad sweep of evangelicalism.
DWill wrote:I was thinking of money matters because our UU group is trying to get back to financial stability after falling short on pledges last year. It's a small congregation (61 members) with a budget of about 70K, more than half of that going for the half-time minister who drives 75 miles from DC. A few of the other board members were contemplating him retiring or going to quarter-time. I was concerned about that, because I'm still seeing that role as essential to any church, and I like this minister a lot. What you say, Harry, has me thinking that there could be another way forward that doesn't have a minister as the hub of a wheel. Such a new structure would call upon members to do more, which could be beneficial for us all. There probably are resources available from the central office in Boston to help congregations with weathering changes that will shrink budgets.
These issues can be agonizing. A marketing perspective is not all that encouraging. The natural constituency of a UU church is similar to that of UCC where I go, but the UU's are more hesitant about keeping the trappings of tradition, such as reciting the Lord's Prayer together or taking communion, which means UU is even more limited to people with college degrees or at least a bookish approach to life. On the other hand, a group with that outlook will "get" the importance of community and mutual support in a way that blue collar families have more trouble getting their head around.

I can tell you that what I have seen of the smallish churches with half-time leadership suggests dynamic leadership is still vital. Having older ministers who take a "caretaker" approach often fails to attract new members and cultivate individual energy, while having a younger minister who is open to spending a lot of time on organization seems to pay dividends in putting lay people into mutual support processes. The UCC church where I am currently a member has the advantage of a core constituency that is relatively well off, so they finance things liberally.

The leadership is forward-thinking about putting that money to work, and so they have a good youth program and have been attracting young families who are desperate to build an alternative to the narratives and worldviews swirling around Trump. Trump is probably the greatest gift the UCC has had in decades, (since Borg and Crossan published alternative views to the Biblicism that Christianity was so invested in, I guess) and I would be surprised if the UU was not having some of the same dividend.
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DWill

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Re: Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

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Harry Marks wrote: These issues can be agonizing. A marketing perspective is not all that encouraging. The natural constituency of a UU church is similar to that of UCC where I go, but the UU's are more hesitant about keeping the trappings of tradition, such as reciting the Lord's Prayer together or taking communion, which means UU is even more limited to people with college degrees or at least a bookish approach to life. On the other hand, a group with that outlook will "get" the importance of community and mutual support in a way that blue collar families have more trouble getting their head around.
I think that's right in each point. One reason I like the minister is that he does have a background in the Abrahamic tradition, having been raised a Baptist. Apparently also, Unitarian seminary, at least in his time, concerned itself with historical Christianity. That's only fitting, since it wasn't so long ago that Unitarianism was a type of Christianity. It no longer is, but there is value in being reminded of that connection and in blunting the sense of superiority UUs sometimes display at having "recovered from religion." So the minister not infrequently cites the Bible and the touchstones of Judaism and Christianity. And no doubt you're right that UUs are rather heady. I think that at times we try to capture some of the exuberance of the "naive" churches, realizing that otherwise we skimp on joy. UUism, of course, has tried to adapt some of the theology talk to its own purposes. It also creates some novelty terms like "intersectionality" that, as an older person, strike me as jarring. But in reality, that kind of thing isn't very visible unless you read the UU magazine.
I can tell you that what I have seen of the smallish churches with half-time leadership suggests dynamic leadership is still vital. Having older ministers who take a "caretaker" approach often fails to attract new members and cultivate individual energy, while having a younger minister who is open to spending a lot of time on organization seems to pay dividends in putting lay people into mutual support processes. The UCC church where I am currently a member has the advantage of a core constituency that is relatively well off, so they finance things liberally.
Now that I think of it, hasn't the UUC been called the Unitarian Church of Christ? I think at the next transition of our UU, which will probably be the minister leaving, we'll discuss different directions in leadership. We currently rent space in a Waldorf school, which means that the building is only available for a couple of hours on Sunday. I've felt that although the arrangement makes a sensible use of resources, it's limiting in obvious ways.
The leadership is forward-thinking about putting that money to work, and so they have a good youth program and have been attracting young families who are desperate to build an alternative to the narratives and worldviews swirling around Trump. Trump is probably the greatest gift the UCC has had in decades, (since Borg and Crossan published alternative views to the Biblicism that Christianity was so invested in, I guess) and I would be surprised if the UU was not having some of the same dividend.
Well, we haven't had people flocking in; in the past two years there have been just a few new members. The church is in a county of only about 10,000 people. Safe to say everyone is aghast at Trump, though, with the notable exception of our dedicated treasurer, who describes herself as an unapologetic Southerner and who bristles at times at things said from the pulpit by lay speakers. I have to wonder at her loyalty, and I am grateful for it. It could be partly because of her that politics is kept to a minimum as far as what is said to the group. It wasn't that way at another UU I belonged to in the early 2000s.
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